Autumn of the 17th year of Chongzhen

Chapter 1353 Breaking through Tongguan

The explosion happened in front of him, which shocked Hauge a little. Tang Tong, Bai Guangen and others were also shocked. After the explosion, they hurried up to touch Hauge to see if he was injured.

Hauge was touched a few times, and came back to his senses, "I'm fine, help me up."

The explosion just now was indeed terrifying, but Hauge was also a battle-tested person, and he quickly overcame his fear.

It's just that the current situation seems a little bad. The Jin army's cannons on the Guancheng can't see the Ming army's artillery. If the shells fall into the Ming army's tunnels, the probability is so low that it can be ignored.

The artillery of the Ming army is so powerful that the artillery on the city can't counter it, and if they can't hit the artillery of the Ming army nestled in the ground, they can only be bombarded by the Ming army now.

Fortunately, although this kind of artillery is powerful, it does not damage the city wall as much as solid bullets hitting the city wall directly, so there is no need to worry about the Ming army destroying two walls.

Hauge was helped to stand up, "Leave a small number of soldiers to watch, the brigade retreated to hide, and waited for the Ming army to attack the city before going up the city wall."

After finishing speaking, Hauge tidied up the slightly crooked Yishan crown, looked at the messy city wall, but he didn't dare to stay for long, surrounded by everyone, he hurriedly left the city.

The shelling just now made him terrified, and he didn't dare to take the main passage. That must be the focus of the Ming army's attack. He was afraid of being shot again, so he walked away from Tongguan by the wall.

Outside the city, the mortar positions were still bombarding. The sounds of artillery and projectile explosions were like thunder. The city was filled with gunpowder smoke, and thick smoke billowed behind the closed wall. There were two kinds of smoke, one white and one black, like two worlds.

Wang Yan led Li Guo, Liu Fangliang and other generals to the outside of the pass, but he did not go to the artillery array under the pass wall, but stood outside the effective range of the Jin army's artillery, watching the results of the shelling with great interest.

"Jianguo, this mortar can actually hit the shells behind the Guancheng like a catapult, and its power is amazing. It is really a sharp weapon!" Li Guo couldn't help admiring loudly after seeing it.

Wang Yan smiled. When he first saw this cannon, he was also shocked, but after the enthusiasm passed, he realized that it was just that.

The key is the application of flowering ammunition. If it is not a breakthrough in the technology of flowering bombs, then what is thrown is live ammunition, which is similar to the projectile machine, but farther than the Paoshi machine.

The shelling was still going on, and the artillery team commander tried to make the shells more accurate, trying to make the shells fall on the pass.But this is not easy, just as it is difficult for the Jin army to hit the shells into the trenches of the Ming army. Although the city wall is wider than the trenches, the probability of falling on it is still very small.

Twenty siege mortars, after a round, only one or two shells can hit the city, and the other landing points are different. They can only maintain a rough range of accuracy, but cannot maintain a small range of precise strikes.

If twenty mortars were fired at the city where they pointed, and they fired a volley on the city, all with precise strikes, then who would dare to go to the city to defend, and Tongguan might be destroyed without an attack.

"It's started again!" Liu Fangliang on the side also said excitedly.

He used to feel that the people in the Ministry of Industry had water in their heads, but now he completely forgot his evaluation of these artillery pieces, and was deeply impressed by their power.

Twenty cannons opened fire again, and white smoke rose up from the artillery array one by one. Iron bullets weighing six to seventy catties pierced the sky one after another and smashed towards Tongguan.

There were bursts of explosions, and thick smoke billowed inside and outside Tongguan. The famous generals who watched the shelling all had excited faces and wanted to fight hard.

The accuracy of the mortar is not high, not as good as the red gun that is directly aimed at the bombardment, but he does not need precise strikes, as long as it lands on Tongguan, it doesn't matter whether it is an old wall, a new wall, or behind a wall, as long as it can cause damage to the Jin army. Just kill.

The Ming army was happy to see it, but suffered from the Jin army guarding the pass.

Although Tang Tong withdrew a lot of people, in order to prevent the Ming army from robbing the pass, it was still necessary to leave a lot of people on the city wall to defend.

At this time, as before, it was impossible to stand upright on the wall. The shelling of the Ming army was like a basin of cold water, extinguishing the flames in their hearts to save the war.

Jin Jun squatted on the edge of the city wall one by one, but even so, some people were blown up in the explosion, and their bodies fell to the city wall.

Hauge took advantage of the interval of the Ming army's shelling, and finally withdrew safely from Tongguan, but he did not just walk away, but commanded the Jin army behind the wall to retreat to a safe place first, and then think of a way.

On the other side, the Ming army fought for a while, and the artillery needed to dissipate heat, so they all stopped.

At this time, Chen Yujie, who was in command of the artillery team, came back from the front, and a familiar general shouted: "Old Chen, you fought well!"

Chen Yujie came forward and saluted Wang Yan first, "See Jian Guo!"

Wang Yan smiled and nodded, "The artillery team can master the skills in such a short period of time, you have a lot of credit! You continue to command, first bombard him for five days, and wait until Tongguan is broken, and I will remember your great achievement."

Chen Yujie quickly responded, hesitated for a while, and suddenly said: "Jianguo, Haoge seems to have arrived at Tongguan."

"Oh?" Wang Yan frowned, "Did you see him?"

Chen Yujie nodded, "I saw a man in a yellow robe, it should be Hauge, and the artillery team shot him twice!"

"Did you blow up that guy?" Liu Fangliang stared at him and asked suddenly, and the others also looked at Chen Yujie.

"Probably not. One flew over the top of the head, and the other missed a lot. I guess I didn't die, but I don't know if I was injured!"

Hearing this, Wang Yan couldn't help feeling sorry for a while, if it would be great to blow up that guy, he would be like a broken bamboo, and he would be able to go to Chang'an sooner or later.

At this time, Hauge was behind Tongguan. According to Tang Tong's report, more than 300 people were killed and injured by the Ming army's shelling, and six trebuchets placed behind the old wall to suppress the Ming army's siege also lost six.

Undoubtedly, the Ming army gave Hauge a blow, and Hauge's face was ashen, but he did not leave Tongguan. If he left, his morale would be further hit.

Hauge sat on a big rock, Tang Tong and others surrounded him, "Is there any problem with the defense of the wall?"

Tang Tong let out a sigh of relief, "Reporting to Your Majesty, Tongguan's city defenses are extremely strong. Although the Ming army's shells exploded fiercely, they did not cause much damage to the city walls. The key incident caused serious casualties."

Hauge remained silent for a moment, and said after a while: "Aiqing just said, how sure are you of holding Tongguan?"

Tang Tong hesitated, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Ming army is now attacking, and I am not afraid. It is not a problem to block it back, but I am afraid that it will take a long time and I cannot afford it."

If the Ming army bombarded Tongguan like this for a month or two, Tongguan would definitely not be able to defend it. Tang Tong paused and saluted: "Without this kind of artillery bombardment, I would have no problem defending Tongguan for half a year, but now I think Tongguan can defend at most two moon."

Hauge frowned, thought for a moment, and then said in a deep voice: "Organize a raid tonight to see if we can destroy the artillery of the Ming army."

"Yes, I asked someone to prepare." Tang Tong responded in a low voice, but he didn't really hope for anything in his heart.

Hauge could also see that his morale was low. After a moment of silence, he suddenly gritted his teeth and said, "If the surprise attack is unsuccessful, then consider letting go of Tongguan and lure the enemy in."

"Let go of Tongguan?" Tang Tong raised his head suddenly, and the surrounding generals also exclaimed.

If Tongguan is defended for less than two months, it is better to take the initiative to retreat with a goal than to let the Ming army break through and the morale of the Jin army be demoralized.

Of course, this letting go is not letting go blindly, it has to be planned and premeditated.

Guarding Tongguan, there are only two outcomes. One is that the Kingdom of Jin exhausted its vitality in Tongguan, and the Ming army broke through Tongguan, and the Kingdom of Jin was defeated.One is that the Jin army blocked the Ming army, and the Ming army could not attack for a long time, and chose to retreat and come back next year, but there was no option to severely damage the Ming army.

Hauge thought that the second possibility was very high, but now it seems that it is not so easy to block the Ming army, so he blocked the idea that he rejected before.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Hauge nodded heavily, "Yes, to give up Tongguan, but not to give up immediately, but to stick to it for a while, in order to defeat the spirit of the Ming army, and then pretend to retreat, in order to arrogate Wang Yan, to lead Ming The army pursued, and finally gathered the main force to choose a place to set up an ambush, and defeated the army."

Tang Tong frowned when he heard this, but Bai Guangen on the side said: "Your Majesty, this is a bit risky! Wang Yan has always been cautious and very steady. Besides, when Tongguan was opened, 30 Ming troops poured into the pass, and our ambush troops were simply not enough." ah!"

Hauge naturally knows, but if Tongguan can't be defended, then he can only fight back in this way, and he has also thought of some methods for the strength of the troops...

(Thanks to Shuhai wuya, Youshui Yichuan for the reward, thank you for your monthly pass, recommendation, and subscription.)
(End of this chapter)